18ft skiffs go to Italy

The Italian Grand Prix, the third event in the 2002 Skiff Pro Tour for the 14 and 18ft skiffs takes place on 23-25 August at Campione on Lake Garda. This follows the opening Grand Prix of the series in Sicily and the German Grand Prix in Travemunde before its culmination in Lagos, Portugal in September.

25 18ft skiffs will be taking part in the Italian Grand Prix for the event being hosted by the International Skiff Sailing Club and the Vela Club Campione del Garda. Course will be set right by the shore so that spectators are close to the racing and can watch every manoeuvre, while listening to live commentry. Wind conditions on Lake Garda will guarantee exciting races for sailors and visitors alike.

Top teams from Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, England, Austria, France and Germany will be descending upon Campione to take part. Racing will again continue the rivallry of the two leading teams Mettler Toledo from Denmark and Model from nearby Switzerland. With Michael Hestbek and Tom Rüegge both teams including Olympic sailors and each is still capable of taking the overall series. At present Mettler Toledo is ahead of Model with a five point advantage. "Everything is still open and we can expect more exciting competitions!" said Michael Hestbek after the races in Travemüende. Team Model know Lake Garda well and they start in Campione with very high expectations.

Equally exciting is the fight for third. Nothing is decided yet with three teams very close, in particular the two Danish teams, Wempe and Quantum.

The Flawless team from Italy will again bring excitement to the event. With skipper Pablo Soldano and Olympic sailor Gabriele Bruni the crew fought hard in Sicily and are expected to do well on their home turf.

Six teams from Great Britain will take part at Lake Garda: Ollie Holden's Total Recall finished third in Travemuende. They are currently sixth overall while Charles Tavner's CCA is ninth.

They will be joined by fellow Brits in the form of Compucenter sailed by Jon Bennett, Andy Jeffries and Nick Jerkins, Ed Browne's Hermes with Mark Tait and Lachlan Torrance crewing, Bristolpanelformers.co.uk sailed by Dominic Brown , Richard and Tom Edwards and last by not least Wolf Skiff Team sailed by Ian Martin, Andy LeGrice and Mark Sempers.